Dogs helping wildlife officers track, relocate bears

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officers help a black bear escape from a cage in the Central Cascades as the department's four Karelian bear dogs get ready for the chase. The dogs are used to chase bears away from areas populated with people and to send the message that they should stay in the wild. (LARRY STEAGALL / KITSAP SUN)

Larry Steagall

PORT ORCHARD - Trotting out of a greenbelt off Mile Hill Dive, Mishka's tongue hung out of his mouth. Panting to cool off, the dog's thick black fur was matted with sweat.

The 8-year-old dog and his handler, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officer Bruce Richards, were in pursuit of a young black bear seen hanging around three South Kitsap schools.

It was a rare day of defeat for Mishka, a Karelian Bear Dog trained to locate bears and cougars. The muggy heat and the thick growth of Scotch Broom and blackberry bushes provided the bear cover from the dog and wildlife officers seeking to sedate and relocate it.

Richards, his arms and face bleeding, was also defeated and beat up from following Mishka into the brush.

The wildlife officer of almost 39 years and his canine partner are stationed in Enumclaw, about 30 miles west of Tacoma. Richards is an hour or more drive from Kitsap, but he's the first person wildlife Sgt. Ted Jackson calls when he needs a bear dog in the county.

Jackson oversees six wildlife officers in Pierce, Kitsap and North Mason counties, but none in his detachment have a bear dog. In the last few years Richards and Mishka have become regular visitors to the peninsula as more bears are spotted in residential areas.

The pair was called to search for a black bear in Banner Forest in 2007 after a Port Orchard man was attacked while riding his bike through the park. The two also helped search for a mother bear in the Bremerton watershed in 2009 after her cubs were captured, and they were called in last year when officers captured two cubs on Jefferson Beach Road in Kingston after their mother was killed by a car.

As the first wildlife enforcement officer-dog team, Richards and Mishka have become the face of the agency's Karelian Bear Dog program.

MEET THE BEAR DOGS

Richards can be gruff, but it's hard for him to maintain his prickly personality when Mishka's alongside. The two regard each other as partners in the field, but they're also companions.

The two have worked together since 2007, when Mishka's first handler, wildlife biologist Rocky Spencer was killed in a helicopter accident while trying to capture bighorn sheep. After Spencer's death, the department had to find a new home for Mishka.

Mishka is a Karelian Bear Dog, a breed named after the Karelia region of Russia. Breeders in Russia and Finland have bred Karelians since 1936. The breed's origin dates back to prehistoric times when they were used in northern and northeastern Europe as hunting and watch dogs.

The medium-sized, black and white dogs have a muscular stature and a confidence to never back down. Because of their natural instincts to hunt big game, they can be trained to shepherd the most dangerous of wild animals.

With proper training, they can also be taught to find spent bullet casings, animal carcasses and to protect humans from wildlife.

It's because of these attributes that Richards proposed bringing Mishka into the law enforcement side of the agency. He was already unofficially using his yellow lab to help locate sedated bears and cougars, and he believed Mishka could officially fill that role.

His proposal was not met with immediate support.

"At first I denied the request," Fish and Wildlife Capt. Bill Hebner said. "But after thinking about it for a week or two I reconsidered, thinking maybe I made the wrong decision."

At the time, the department was wrestling with how to handle an increase in calls from the public about bear encounters. Solutions were to kill bears that repeatedly came into neighborhoods or capture and relocate them to less-populated areas. Relocation is the politically correct solution, but it doesn't always guarantee survival.

Having a bear dog gave the department another option for dealing with problem wildlife in a nonlethal way. The dogs could also be used to help officers with other elements of their job, including gathering evidence to prosecute people poaching wildlife, Richards said.

Finding a way to prevent the unnecessary killing of wildlife got Hebner's attention.

"Black bears are being attracted to human development because they're looking for easy food," Hebner said. "Ninety-nine times out of 100, people will tell us 'We don't want anything bad to happen to the bear.'"

But, if people don't change their habits and instead choose to keep food sources outside, bears will continue to come into populated areas even if wildlife officers remove them. Officers don't want to kill bears because people refuse to comply with their advice, Hebner said.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife's Karelian Bear Dog program is 100 percent supported by private donations. Public funds are not available for the care, training or support of the dogs. To support the program, send donations to WDFW KBD Fund, Attn: Capt. Bill Hebner, 16018 Mill Creek Blvd., Mill Creek, WA 98012-1296.

Fish and wildlife enforcement Chief Bruce Bjork ultimately agreed to a pilot program with Mishka to determine if bear dogs would be a good fit for enforcement officers. But, because of the state's declining budget and cuts to funding, Bjork said no state money would be available for the program.

Instead private funding would have to keep it running.

There are now four dogs in the program: Mishka, Cash, Colter and Savute.

Colter, 2, was matched with enforcement officer Nicholas Jorg in 2009 and Savute, 2, was matched with enforcement officer Chris Moszeter in 2010. Jorg patrols Snohomish County and Moszeter patrols King County. Cash, 5, works with bear and cougar specialist Rich Beausoleil, a biologist working out of Wenatchee.

The two were matched in 2006, one year before Richards was approved to use Mishka in enforcement work. Washington and Alaska are the only states to use the breed for enforcement work. They're used in other states and Canada to help with wildlife conservation efforts, and in Japan as search and rescue dogs.

The dogs are from the Wind River Bear Institute in Montana. Biologist and director Carrie Hunt gets her dogs from Finland. Hunt studies the pups beginning at birth, determining which will be best suited for wildlife work, protection or a domestic life. Hunt is specific in her selection of the pups and the wildlife officers who will work with them.

In a process almost as intense as adopting a child, Hunt performs extensive interviews with officers, asking about their home life, family members and other pets before agreeing to place a dog. If she doesn't think an officer is a good fit, he doesn't get a dog.

At 12 ½ weeks old, a pup is delivered to the officer, who then spends one to two years working with and training the animal to prepare it for wildlife enforcement. Karelians are unlike other canine officers; when they come home, they become part of the family."When you get home you lay down with them, you snuggle with them," Beausoleil said. "You want them to protect your life, so you get close to them."

Snuggling and handling the dogs as puppies builds the bond, which is needed when it comes time to track wildlife. If a bear or cougar tries to attack an officer, the dog's first instinct is to get between the officer and the animal.

Because the dogs are trained to not back down, often a dominant bear or cougar will run away in fear. Wildlife officers depend on this confidence and ferocity.

GROWING THE PROGRAM

Spread mostly across the western part of the state, the four bear dogs are rarely in the same place at the same time. But the one time they almost always come together is for "hard releases" — when bears are released after capture. The purpose is to scare the bears so they won't want to return.

While the bears are in a cage, the dogs approach, barking incessantly and never backing down — even if a bear charges the gate. When it comes time to release the bears, officers shoot small beanbags filled with lead pellets at their behinds as they run off. They also shoot loud blanks into the air to scare them.

Once the bears are on the run, the barking dogs chase after them: a final reminder to stay away. Officers have to use dog whistles to call the dogs back or they'll keep chasing the bears until they're up a tree.

Because the state's bear dog program is funded through private donations, wildlife officers often cover the cost of food and veterinarian bills without reimbursement.

The dogs cost about $3,000 initially and then another roughly $3,000 a year for food and vet bills. Donations from the public and organizations help offset some of the costs.

Mishka demonstrated his worth shortly after being approved to work with Richards. Wildlife officers were trying to prosecute a suspect in a poaching case, but after more than 600 hours of searching for evidence, they came up short. After 15 minutes at the site, Mishka found enough evidence to prosecute the suspect.

"He's located more evidence on illegal kill sites than we could ever find," Hebner said.

The department hopes to expand its bear dog program by at least two to three more dogs, he said, adding that funding is already in place for two dogs.

One of the officers slated to receive the dog is Dustin Prater, who works under Jackson. He has been waiting two years for the right dog.

"When we get the dog it's going to be another resource for us to educate the public about bears and to help protect people from encounters with bears," Prater said. "I don't think our bear sighting numbers, as far as calls for service go, are going to get any lower. In fact they've gone up in the last few years."Jackson welcomes the addition of a dog to his detachment, saying he regularly relies on volunteer hound dog handlers to help search for bears and cougars. Their service is invaluable, Jackson said, but so is having a dog on call with a trained wildlife officer as its handler.

When searching for the elusive Port Orchard bear two weeks ago, Jackson said a private handler likely wouldn't have helped because the bear was too close to a major road. But having Mishka available allowed officers to corner the bear; they just weren't able to capture it.

Adding a dog will bring another tool to help minimize public encounters with wildlife, Jackson said. He hopes it also means he won't have to call Richards and Mishka as regularly to make the trek to Kitsap.